Dear Stanford ME/CFS Patients,
Recently, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) was charged with the important task to review over 65 years of clinical and research literature on ME/CFS, 9,112 articles in total. Their final recommendations propose new diagnostic criteria (see below), a new name, Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease (SEID), and an increase in research funding. In our opinion, these provide the ME/CFS community with a step forward into changing the narrative of the disease and significant progress in ensuring that patients will be properly recognized and supported by their health care providers. We at the Stanford ME/CFS Initiative, echo the message IOM has put forth: this is a complex, multisystemic and crippling illness in much need of multidisciplinary research approach that must always take heed of patients' concerns in order to improve diagnosis and treatment once and for all.
Sincerely,
Jose G. Montoya

Proposed Diagnostic Criteria for ME/CFS
Diagnosis requires that the patient have the following three symptoms:
1)
A substantial reduction or impairment in the ability to engage in pre-illness levels of occupational, educational, social, or personal activities, that persists for more than 6 months and is accompanied by fatigue, which is often profound, is of new or definite onset (not lifelong), is not the result of ongoing excessive exertion, and is not substantially alleviated by rest, and
2)
Post-exertional malaise,* and
3) Unrefreshing sleep*
At least one of the two following manifestations is also required:
1)
Cognitive impairment* or
2)
Orthostatic intolerance
*Frequency and severity of symptoms should be assessed. The diagnosis of ME/CFS should be questioned if patients do not have these symptoms at least half of the time with moderate, substantial, or severe intensity.
Excerpt from the IOM Report "Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" 2015.

Dear Patients, Researchers and Supporters of the ME/CFS Stanford Research,

The video capture from the 2014 Stanford Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symposium hosted on March 19, 2014 is now available to the public. Please follow this link to access the video from this event. If you find these materials helpful and would like to make a contribution to our research, please click on the link below.

Your donation will help us continue unraveling the mystery of this debilitating illness.

If you would like to make a contribution to our research, please click on the link below.
Your donation will help us continue unraveling the mystery of this debilitating illness.

Current Areas of Study

Infection-associated chronic diseases that our group studies include Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease, Epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, and other unexplained chronic illnesses. In addition, infectious agents such as human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6), parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii, and fungi such as Coccidiodes immitis, may play an etiologic role in these diseases. We are also interested in unveiling the pathogenesis of Chronic Lyme Disease, keeping an open mind to possible etiologies, including the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi.